Arguably two of the greatest captains in world cricket, MS Dhoni for India and Ricky Ponting for Australia, have contributed immensely for their respective sides. The duo conquered nearly every challenge during their respective careers and won trophies for fun.
Former Australia left-arm wrist spinner and teammate of Ponting, Brad Hogg made an honest assessment on how both Dhoni and Ponting (fondly known as Punter by his teammates) dealt with the politics during their reign as captains of their respective nations.
“Ricky Ponting had a wonderful team. MS Dhoni had a great team as well. For me, both did exceptionally well, both have got a fantastic record. You cannot separate them. I’d say that MS Dhoni probably had more politics to deal with in Indian cricket than what Ricky Ponting did. That probably puts Dhoni slightly in front of Ricky Ponting,” told Hogg on his YouTube channel.
Ponting had lot of cricketers around that were really experienced: Brad Hogg
Ponting during his era led an Aussie side that had some high-profile players such as Matthew Hayden, Andrew Symonds, the late spin wizard Shane Warne, and Adam Gilchrist among others. Hogg further opined that Ponting had a relatively easy job with the national side due to the presence of experienced cricketers, who knew how to go about things.
“The other thing with Ricky Ponting is he had a lot of cricketers around who were really experienced and knew their roles and knew what to do as well.
He only had to control certain aspects of the game. Most of the attitudes of the players, the discipline of the players, the plans of the players knowing what to do, they all knew it. It’s a tough one, but MS Dhoni with the extra politics that he might have had in India, probably just puts him in front. Sorry, Ricky!,” added Hogg.
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